BIRN Albania Trains Activists on Multimedia Techniques

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania held a training session on March 21st in Tirana on the use of multimedia techniques in media advocacy.

BIRN Albania Trains Activists on Multimedia Techniques

Those taking part were young activists from grassroots and civil society organizations, working to promote access to higher education, gender equality, minority rights and environmental conservation.

The training session, which 21 civil society activists attended, was held with the support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy, BTD.

BIRN Albania photojournalist Ivana Dervishi led the course, focusing on the importance of photography in activism and media engagement.

She shared her experience in photographing difficult and conflict situations such as protests, and in covering human rights issues. She also engaged the activists on the techniques for creating stunning photo-series and how to pitch them to the media.

The participants also discussed ethical questions concerning the line between photography as part of freedom of expression and people’s rights to privacy.

During the training filmmaker Elton Baxhaku shared his experience working on human rights documentaries and on how to film videos that can be used for activism. He also explained how to persuade people to talk in front of the camera and discussed the difficulties in remaining objective while promoting causes as an activist.

The group shared their own stories of activism and the challenges of explaining human rights violations and the abuse of laws by using videos and the editing process.